Georgia State and Dell McGee have Lane Kiffin’s attention ahead of opener
Georgia State football has the SEC’s attention, even if coach Dell McGee’s second team was picked to finish last in the Sun Belt Conference this season by league coaches.
The Panthers open their season Saturday at No. 21-ranked Ole Miss (7:45 p.m., SEC Network), where they will be a 34½-point underdog.
“Last year was a whirlwind for me as a head football coach,” said McGee, who took over the Georgia State program after spending the previous eight years on Kirby Smart’s staff at Georgia.
The Panthers were 3-9 overall and 1-7 in Sun Belt Conference play last season, but the 36-32 nonconference win they scored over Vanderbilt on Sept. 14 in Atlanta left an impression that has resonated.
“This is a really tough game, (and) that’s not coach-speak,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said Wednesday on the SEC coaches teleconference. “These guys have a lot of transfers, a lot of really good players, and really good coaches that have won championships and coached in the NFL.
“They know how to build a program, much like they did at Georgia, so we’re going to have to play really well.”
To Kiffin’s point, McGee’s staff includes former NFL head coach Hue Jackson as offensive coordinator and veteran SEC assistant coach and former Auburn quarterback Dameyune Craig overseeing receivers.
Former Georgia linebacker Juwan Taylor coaches the Panthers’ inside linebackers, while running backs coach Enrique Davis is in his first year on staff after coming over from the Ole Miss staff where he served as an analyst.
McGee said Georgia State brought in 34 players from the high school ranks, the Panthers’ recruiting class ranking 68th per 247Sports, in addition to 43 new players from the portal.
“We’ve created competition in every single (group),” McGee said at the Sun Belt media days in New Orleans. “We had four one-score losses (in 2024), which led to the offseason theme of ‘finish.’”
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea, whose Commodores play the Panthers again this season Sept. 20 in Nashville, Tennessee, said Kiffin is right to be on alert.
“To say that they snuck up on us a year ago is not right,” Lea said. “We were fully aware of the fact that they were going to bring it to support the coach’s personality and his competitive nature and a team that’s prideful and a school that’s played good football here in the recent past.
“They got the better of us a year ago, (and) I’m sure they’ll be ready to play in the opener and understand why that has coach (Kiffin’s) attention.”
The Panthers will return to Atlanta after the game to begin prep for their home-opening game against Memphis at 7 p.m. Sept. 6.
About the Author
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
